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Tisdale, Saskatchewan, is an agricultural town historically known for producing honey and rapeseed, a flowering yellow plant cultivated for the oil of its seeds. (Most rapeseed grown today is better known as canola.)

But that's not the meaning of “rape” that comes to most people’s minds when they see the slogan plastered all over the town’s signs.

“Once you explain, it eases things up a bit,” Mayor Al Jellicoe told the Toronto Star on Tuesday. “But when you’re trying to deal internationally or nationally -- I don’t want to do that every time we entice a business to the area.”

Town officials are sending around a survey to Tisdale’s 3,200 residents, asking if they want to alter the slogan, according to the Star Phoenix. One of those officials, Sean Wallace, says not everyone thinks the motto needs an update.

“From what I understand a lot of people feel there’s a tradition involved,” Wallace told The Guardian.

The town adopted its infamous slogan in 1958, and it's caused controversy before. The Toronto Star notes that an Ontario woman wrote a letter in 1992 to the local paper, the Tisdale Recorder, suggesting the town change the name. A subsequent vote by town residents was split evenly, and Tisdale kept its slogan for the time being.

Alternative slogans suggested in the survey -- the results of which will be tallied in July -- include “a place to grow,” “a place to bee” (emphasis on “bee" wink and “land of canola and honey,” according to the CBC.

The terms "rapeseed" and "canola" are not totally interchangeable. It's a common misconception that the unpleasant-sounding rapeseed oil was simply renamed “canola oil” as a marketing gimmick, but there's more to the story. Canola is actually a specific cultivar of rapeseed, created in the 1970s by breeding different varieties of the plant.

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Learn something new everyday. Like plants with bewildering names.

Bloodthirsty Carnivore

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.
That reminds me of the jokes about rapeseeds from the RPG FATAL. Like, an item called "rapeseed of raping".

Ugh. gonk

Green Smoker

I was drawn to this topic immediately thinking of Ministry& the album titled The Land of Rape and Honey. cool

Rapeseed is a plant. But people can be really sensitive over simply using the word "rape" in any context. So without knowing that, the name might confuse or upset people.

Yuki_Windira's Husband

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

Magical Genius

I wonder how often their signs get stolen.
Reminds me of our town putting in speed bumbs by the school and having the genius idea to have the traffic signs read "Hump" and "Hump Ahead".
Those lasted all of a day and, after the third time they had to replace them they wised up and changed it to bump instead.

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

We had an unfortunate Seaman I worked with who had the last name of Guzzler. emotion_facepalm

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Hahaha this is so good.

I mean rape is not fun. But that slogan, oh my god!

Yuki_Windira's Husband

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

We had an unfortunate Seaman I worked with who had the last name of Guzzler. emotion_facepalm


Was it a she? And a nuke?

Fluff Saint

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

We had an unfortunate Seaman I worked with who had the last name of Guzzler. emotion_facepalm


Was it a she? And a nuke?

Yeah it was a girl. I think she was a linguist or analyst. I don't know where she works now since that was like 10 years ago.

Yuki_Windira's Husband

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

We had an unfortunate Seaman I worked with who had the last name of Guzzler. emotion_facepalm


Was it a she? And a nuke?

Yeah it was a girl. I think she was a linguist or analyst. I don't know where she works now since that was like 10 years ago.


Wonder if that was the same girl from my school stuff. Was in from 2005 to 2009. They tried temporarily changing her designation to Fireman. Wasn't much better.

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Huh. Did not know canola was a type of rapeseed. Also WOW, worst name for a plant EVER. I hope the bee one wins.


There was a guy in the Navy around one of the A-schools who had the last name Rape. ...And he was a Seaman designation.

We had an unfortunate Seaman I worked with who had the last name of Guzzler. emotion_facepalm


Was it a she? And a nuke?

Yeah it was a girl. I think she was a linguist or analyst. I don't know where she works now since that was like 10 years ago.


Wonder if that was the same girl from my school stuff. Was in from 2005 to 2009. They tried temporarily changing her designation to Fireman. Wasn't much better.

You know it's bad when the military acknowledges that it's a horrible combination of name/designation and tries to change it for you, lol. I was in from 2000-2005 so who knows, they could have been the same person.

Kawaii Shoujo

Alura19
I wonder how often their signs get stolen.
Reminds me of our town putting in speed bumbs by the school and having the genius idea to have the traffic signs read "Hump" and "Hump Ahead".
Those lasted all of a day and, after the third time they had to replace them they wised up and changed it to bump instead.
Maybe they should have kept those signs as is... it would have been a great laugh for students and faculty day by day rofl rofl rofl

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